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It doesn't matter much that you can't teach an old dog new tricks — the ones he already knows are serving Nikolai Khabibulin just fine.

Work harder than everyone else, fight till your last breath of energy on every opposition scoring chance and be a leader in the dressing room.

Tricks like that.

The same things he did as a 31-year-old Stanley Cup winner in Tampa Bay are at the heart of his revival in Edmonton.

Hip surgery, groin injury, 40 years old? Those would be three strikes against a lot of players.

Khabibulin? More like three strikes and you're shut out, St. Louis.

"We're all really happy for Khabby," said half-his-age teammate Taylor Hall, after Khabibulin's 43-save shutout over the dumbfounded Blues.

"He had a long road to recovery from his surgery and it's great to see him playing well.

"He's a great guy around the room and he's a real professional, we're happy for him to come back and play so well and have fun, you can really see he's enjoying it."

Khabibulin has alternated between looking 25 and 45 this season. Hip surgery in the summer, and a recovery that spilled into the first 10 games of the schedule, made it look like he might be ready for the pasture.

"I remember being with him in September, I don't think he was too confident in his ability to come back from surgery," said Hall. "But he worked really hard with our trainers and we all saw this coming, he's in such great shape."

Khabibulin came back and was instantly brilliant, allowing just 10 goals on 154 shots over five games for a 2.00 GAA and .935 save percentage. He posted the only two wins on Edmonton's five-game homestand, took the 15-0-3 Blackhawks to overtime in their first game on the road and seemed in the process of starting a goaltending controversy when his groin went.

Pasture?

Nope, comes back after missing 11 games and after being hung out to dry in Edmonton's 3-0 home loss to St. Louis, exacted some revenge with Tuesday's shutout.

"Nikolai's worked extremely hard to come back twice now this season," said head coach Ralph Krueger. "We had somebody working him out in Edmonton (after he was sent home from the road trip with the groin injury) and he was working harder than even before, when he came back from the long-term injury.

"That's Nikolai Khabibulin, he's a winner and he's a great example for this whole group."

The native of Sverdlovsk is always one of the fittest players on his team and says he feels better now than he has in years.

"I really feel a lot better than before surgery," he said. "I'm enjoying it. When you're body doesn't hurt as much it makes it more fun."

So does playing well — being counted on and delivering.

"Having played good games is more important than a shutout," he said. "A shutout is a combination of the team playing good, the goalie playing good and getting lucky a few times. When everything falls into place you get a shutout. But more important is to feel good and play well.

"For us it's such a desperation time, shutout or no shutout we just need points.

So do they go with him Thursday against the resurgent Columbus Blue Jackets?

"We'll make those decisions after we get back to Edmonton," said Krueger, who liked what he saw in St. Louis. "He was perfect, of course, with the zero, but for us, more important than the saves he was making was the intensity and the battle level that he was showing.

"He was able to manage a couple of breakdowns that we had, he was able to manage the (St. Louis) push back after we scored. At critical moments he really raised his game, it was truly an excellent, excellent effort."